Generally, a connector functions to electrically connect separate parts of a circuit. Electrical connectors often comprise a cap and a plug as a pair. Electrical connectors are widely used to supply electric power to various machines and electronic appliances. Electrical connectors are also used to intermittently connect various electric operation signals with one another.
However, when connecting the cap to the plug of a conventional connector, an operator has to grip the cap and the plug using both hands and apply a great force to the cap and the plug in opposite directions. Therefore, connection of the cap and the plug is sometimes very laborious, especially when doing so within the confines of a small space.
To solve such problems, an elastic lever connector was introduced in Korean Patent No. 10-2007-0004929 filed by the present applicant, which is capable of forcibly connecting and separating the cap and the plug by a lever elastically moving with respect to a side of the plug.
The above elastic lever connector shown in Prior Art FIGS. 7 and 8 comprises a cap 100 and a plug 200. The cap 100 comprises a connection unit 101 having a connecting projection 102. The plug 200 to be connected with the connection unit 101 comprises a relative connection unit 201 corresponding to the connection unit 101, and a supporting spring 202 and a spring cap 203 formed at the inside thereof. The supporting spring 202 elastically supports a lever 300 that will be described hereinafter.
The lever 300 is mounted to one side of the plug 200 to reciprocate linearly. Since a connecting groove 301 is formed at the lever 300, the cap 100 and the plug 200 are forced to connect with and separate from each other while the connecting projection 102 is moving along an inside of the connecting groove 301. The lever 300 comprises a pressing projection 302 and a releasing projection 303 fixing and releasing the spring cap 203, respectively. By pressing projection 302 and the releasing projection 303, a repulsive force is generated while the lever 300 is being inserted in a plug housing, and the repulsive force is removed after the lever 300 is completely inserted in the plug housing, such that incomplete connection between the cap 100 and the plug 200 can be prevented.
However, according to the above conventional elastic lever connector, a lot of parts are required to dedicatedly form the spring cap 203 to the spring 202 and the pressing and releasing projections 302, 303 to the lever 300, thereby complicating the structure of the connector.
Furthermore, since a moving distance of the lever 300 is long in the conventional structure, it is hard to operate the lever 300 within the confines of a small space. Also, since connection between the cap 100 and the plug 200 is maintained by a force of the supporting spring 202, if a greater external force than the force of the supporting spring 202 is applied, the connection may be released.